New York Institute for the Blind
| New York Institute for Special Education | |
|---|---|
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| Address | |
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999 Pelham Parkway North Bronx, New York City 10469 USA |
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| Coordinates | 40°51′31″N 73°51′34″W / 40.858617°N 73.859438°WCoordinates: 40°51′31″N 73°51′34″W / 40.858617°N 73.859438°W |
| Information | |
| Type | Private, Special, Day & Boarding |
| Established | 1831 |
| Sister school | Overbrook School for the Blind |
| Executive Director | Bernadette M. Kappen, Ph.D. |
| Grades |
P–12 Students aged 3 to 21 |
| Accreditation | National Commission for the Accreditation of Special Education Services |
| Website | www |
The New York Institute for the Blind was founded in 1831 as a school for blind children by Samuel Wood, a Quaker philanthropist, Samuel Akerly, a physician, and John Dennison Russ, a philanthropist and physician. It was located at 34th Street and Ninth Avenue in Manhattan, New York City.
Early in the 20th century, the school was renamed the New York Institute for the Education of the Blind to emphasize its educational character. In 1986, the school was renamed the New York Institute for Special Education (NYISE) to reflect its expanded focus on providing programs for children with learning and emotional disabilities as well as for those who are blind. The institute's multiple facilities now serve children ranging in age from newborn to age 21.
Samuel Wood was a wealthy school-book publisher who had been a teacher until he was 40. Recognizing that reading books for children were few, he prepared and published a primer, The Young Child's A B C, or First Book (1806). Wood had seen eager-to-learn blind children in the city's poorhouses, where their future was bleak, and had probably heard of a movement in Boston interested in training the blind. Wood was in his sixties and of a philanthropic bent.
Samuel Akerly had been for ten years the superintendent and attending physician of the New York Institution for the Deaf. He had been active in developing instruction for deaf-mutes and became interested in doing the same for the blind. Akerly knew how to propose legislation, and he, Wood and 15 other citizens presented a petition to the New York State Legislature proposing an institution to "...improve the moral and intellectual condition of the Blind, and to instruct them in such mechanical employments as are best adapted to persons in such a condition." The legislation passed, but was amended by one state senator to limit the institution's purpose to children.
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Wikipedia